


Abandoned

by Starofwinter



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Shopping Malls, Statement Fic, abandoned buildings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-10 15:16:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20853884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: There's a sense of loneliness that can only been found in dead malls.





	Abandoned

**Statement of Anne Einar, on being trapped in an abandoned mall.**

**Statement begins:**

* * *

**** I’ve always liked empty malls, you know? Or, I guess I always  _ liked _ them. Till… that. 

I’d found a new one to explore. There were a couple of stores left, but I knew the only people likely to be there at 10am on a Tuesday were the mall-walkers, getting their daily exercise by pacing through the empty corridors. I knew I wouldn’t be bothered.

There’s something soothing about an abandoned mall - some mix of nostalgia and loneliness and timelessness. It feels full of memories that aren’t yours, ghosts of decades past. My favorite hobby was always to take pictures of them, to capture that dizzying feeling of feeling completely adrift in time.

It gets even worse when there’s no one there. I’d expected old people walking around, like I said earlier, but there was  _ no one _ . I tried the doors, and they opened easily, just as silent and smooth as they probably had thirty years ago. Like they were welcoming me. Normally, I wouldn’t mind being alone, but something about all of this just felt… wrong. 

I ignored that feeling. I know, I know, but I’ve been in a dozen malls just like this, and the worst that’s happened is being followed by a security guard or asked for cash by someone taking shelter for a little while. I just figured I was psyching myself out, so I walked in and tried not to flinch at the way the door slammed shut behind me.

Normally in a mall like that, every little noise echoes. Footsteps, the whirr of a camera shutter, voices, it bounces off all those brick floors and bare walls and comes back tenfold, but not this time. That door was the last thing I heard. Inside, it was like everything was wrapped in cotton. Dead silent. It was disorienting, and I started doing everything I could to make noise, short of actually screaming. 

I walked around for a while, taking pictures of everything I could. At first, it was kind of nice to have the place to myself. I could get whatever pictures I wanted, at whatever strange angles that looked cool. It was fun for a while, till I realized that I didn’t know what time it was, and that I  _ still _ hadn’t seen or heard anybody. Even when I was going behind counters and poking around in offices, there was nobody. Honestly, I don’t even remember seeing any signs of people, like papers or security cameras or anything else. It didn’t feel like a real place, just a… facsimile of a real place. To borrow a cliche, it was like time stood still. Even my phone was dead, so I didn’t have any way of keeping track of time.

Even trying to call out, to see if there was anyone who could or would answer, didn’t really do anything. My own voice sounded muffled, like when you shout into fog or a snowy day. The unease grew into panic, and I ran for the doors, but it’s like they weren’t there. I ran and ran, but I could never reach the doors that I saw in the distance. It was an endless stretch of corridor leading directly to what I wanted most, and I’m ashamed to say that eventually, I gave up. I spent… God knows how long, sitting in the empty food court, staring at the door at the end of the row, begging for someone to come and find me. 

At some point, I realized I should look for food, but I wasn’t hungry. I didn’t know how long it had been since I ate, but the thought of food, especially the dusty candy in rusting machines, made me sick. 

I tried to keep walking, but it felt so  _ pointless _ . I felt heavy and tired, and so  _ alone _ . I couldn’t sleep either, and really, I was afraid to. It felt like if I went to sleep, I wouldn’t wake up, so I kept going. I tried to think of my friends, my family, anyone who might come looking for me, but…  _ would they? _

It was a horrible thought. Were they looking for me right now? What if they didn’t? Surely if I wasn’t back by… well, I couldn’t tell what time it was by then, but  _ surely _ … But I was still alone. They hadn’t found me. They weren’t looking for me, or they would have. Right? I’d been on my own for a while, and none of us were as close as we had been… 

And then my phone rang. My phone, which had been dead the last time I looked, was ringing. The picture that popped up for the ID was my best friend, a selfie of the two of us, taken right as something her mom said made us crack up. It was one of the happiest nights I could remember, and I answered with shaking hands, almost dropping the phone in my desperation.

I cried when I heard her voice say my name, I’m not ashamed to admit it. She was worried right away, asking me if I was okay, and I couldn’t answer at first. She kept talking to me, talking me through it, and it felt like the world righted itself around me.

The heavy silence was gone, replaced by the drumming of rain on the skylights, and I didn’t care how hard it was raining - I bolted for the doors, and this time, I got them open. 

I don’t remember much of the drive to her house, just relief.

I haven’t been back to that mall, or any other abandoned place since then, and I don’t think I’ll ever bring myself to go. I’m done with all of it.

* * *

**Statement ends.**

**Somehow, I’m not surprised that abandoned malls are a feeding ground for The Lonely. There’s something so isolated about them, I never understood the appeal, and I still don’t. This statement seems to follow a trend, with a loved one reaching out and drawing someone back from one of the Entities, especially The Lonely… **

**Author's Note:**

> HEY JON ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION TO THE THEME HERE


End file.
